DENVER – The National Hockey League announced this morning that Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar was voted as the 2024-25 James Norris Memorial Trophy recipient, awarded to the defenseman who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-around ability in the position. The award was voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association (PHWA) at the end of the 2024-25 regular season. Makar took home 176 of the 191 first-place votes.
Makar joins Bobby Orr (eight times), Denis Potvin (three times), Paul Coffey, Rod Langway and Erik Karlsson as the sixth player in NHL history to capture multiple Norris Trophies before turning 27 years old. A finalist in each of the last five seasons, Makar is the only skater to finish in the top three of Norris voting every year since 2020-21. In fact, Orr (six times), Potvin (five times) and Brad Park (five times) are the only other players to finish as a Norris Trophy finalist at least five times within his first six seasons, while Orr and Potvin are the only ones to have multiple wins in that span. Makar was the first player in Avalanche/Nordiques history to win the award back in 2021-22.
The Calgary, Alberta, native registered 92 points (30g/62a) in 80 games during the 2024-25 regular season to pace all NHL blueliners in goals, assists and points, with his 30 goals and 92 points breaking his own franchise records for a defenseman. The 30 tallies marked the first time an NHL defenseman hit the benchmark since Mike Green (31g/42a) in 2008-09 with the Washington Capitals. In fact, Makar is just the ninth different rearguard in NHL history (18th instance) to hit the 30-goal mark, joining Orr (five times), Coffey (four times), Potvin (three times), Ray Bourque, Kevin Hatcher, Phil Housley, Doug Wilson and Green. The 92-point campaign made Makar the fifth defenseman all-time to post consecutive 90-point seasons, and the first since Coffey (1988-89 to 1990-91) and Al MacInnis (1989-91). The 30g/62a scoring line also made Makar the first blueliner since Coffey in 1988-89 to register 30-plus goals and 60-plus assists in the same season.
Makar also ranked first among League defensemen in power-play goals (12), power-play points (35), even-strength points (54 – tied), shorthanded tallies (2), multi-goal efforts (6), multi-point performances (27), goals per game (0.38) and points per game (1.15). His six multi-goal games were the most by a defenseman in a single campaign since Coffey in 1985-86 (13). Among all NHL skaters, Makar ranked among league leaders in assists (8th), points (9th), power-play points (6th) and time on ice per game (25:43, 3rd).
The blueliner reached numerous career milestones in 2024-25, beginning with his 100th career NHL goal on Jan. 18 vs. Dallas to become the fifth-fastest rearguard in the modern era to hit the century mark. Makar was the third-fastest defender in history to reach 400 career points (Feb. 23 at St. Louis) and also 500 combined regular-season/playoff points (March 27 vs. Los Angeles). He opened the season with a career high tying 13-game point streak (Oct. 9–Nov. 5), the second-longest streak by a defenseman to begin a campaign in NHL history behind only Orr’s 15-game stretch in 1973-74. The early scoring outburst placed Makar in a tie with Mark Stone for the NHL scoring lead through the end of October with 19 points (4g/15a). The last time a defenseman led or held a share of the league lead in points through the end of October was exactly 50 years prior, when Orr was in a four-way tie for the NHL lead on Nov. 1, 1974.
On March 6, 2025, Makar recorded the first six-point game by a defenseman in franchise history, as he tallied two goals and four assists in a 7-3 victory over San Jose. The performance was just the second time over the last 20 years and just the third over the past 30 years a defenseman posted six points in a game, while also marking the first NHL defenseman with two-plus goals and four-plus assists in a game since Coffey on March 14, 1986 vs. Detroit. Among Avalanche/Nordiques skaters, Makar was the first with six points in a contest since Milan Hejduk on Dec. 9, 2007 vs. St Louis.
The 6-foot, 187-pound defenseman helped Canada win the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off after leading the tournament in ice time (26:47). He later added five points (1g/4a) in seven Stanley Cup Playoffs contests. In 79 career playoff games, Makar has registered 85 points (22g/63a), the third-best all-time points per game average (1.08) by a defenseman with at least 60 Stanley Cup Playoff games behind Orr (1.24) and Evan Bouchard (1.11). With an assist in Game 1 on April 19, 2025, Makar (73 games) became the fourth-fastest defenseman in postseason history to reach 60 career helpers, behind only Orr (69 contests), MacInnis (71) and Bouchard (72).
The year Makar won his first Norris Trophy, he led all blueliners in goals (28) and finished second in points (86). The performance made Makar the first defenseman with 25-plus goals and 55-plus assists in a season since MacInnis in 1990-91 with the Flames. He tied for first among NHL blueliners with six game-winning goals and matched the single-season franchise record with three overtime markers. Including Makar, only three defensemen in NHL history have reached at least 25 goals, 55 assists, nine power-play goals, six game-winning goals and a +45 rating or better in a season, joining Potvin in 1977-78 and Coffey in 1984-85.
Five days after winning the Norris Trophy, Makar was the recipient of the 2022 Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. At 23 years, 239 days, he became the youngest defenseman in 52 years to win the Conn Smythe and just the third overall to do so at age 23 or younger, joining Orr with the 1970 Bruins (22 years, 51 days) and Serge Savard with the 1969 Canadiens (23 years, 102 days).
In 2020-21, Makar was a finalist for the Norris Trophy and was named to the NHL First All-Star Team. Only four other defensemen in the last 50 years have made the NHL First All-Star Team before their 23rd birthday (as of the end of the regular season): Karlsson (21 years old in 2011-12), Dion Phaneuf (22 in 2007-08), Bourque (19 in 1979-80 and 21 in 1981-82) and Potvin (21 in 1974-75 and 22 in 1975-76).
Makar won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 2019-20, becoming the first blueliner in Avalanche/Nordiques history to be named the league’s Rookie of the Year. He was just the 12th defenseman in NHL history to win the Calder Memorial Trophy and only the second in the last 10 seasons, joining Aaron Ekblad in 2014-15.
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